Blog: Hearing Wednesday for IBM exec as PTO head

Here's a briefing dossier for the confirmation hearings Wednesday of IBM's David J. Kappos as head of the beleaguered U.S. patent office.

SAN JOSE, Calif.  Is IBM's head of intellectual property the right person to dig the U.S. patent office out of its historic backlog? You can watch online the confirmation hearings of David J. Kappos for the job of Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST and answer the question for yourself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Kappos confirmation hearings, so dial in and then leave a comment below or drop me a note at rmerritt@techinsights.com. I'll be on vacation Wednesday (doncha hate conflicts!) but hope to dial in anyway and write a story about the hearings Thursday morning.

Here's a virtual briefing dossier for you:

The Senate Judiciary Committee has made available online some background materials on Kappos. They include a paper he co-authored proposing what's called deferred examination as one way to reduce the backlog at the PTO. I'd love to hear what you think about this proposal.

You can read here a recent report on the state of the PTO by the committee that oversees the patent office. You also can read about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's prescription for the PTO here.

I gathered opinions about the need for reforming the patent office in a cover story earlier this year, and opinions about the choice of Kappos in a June story.

It's interesting to note Kappos was trained as an electronic engineer, but then went right on the law school and has spent his entire 20 year career climbing the corporate ladder in IBM patent department. IBM is consistently the biggest winner of U.S. patents every year, which raises the question of the extent to which Big Blue participates in the patent madness of quantity over quality in applications.

At Tessera, we think David J. Kappos is an excellent choice to head the USPTO.
As part of this confirmation hearing, we hope Congress develops a deeper understanding of the enormous challenges facing the patent office. And we urge our elected leaders to ensure that Mr. Kappos gets the critical support he needs.
Fixing the USPTO should be a far greater priority for our patent system than continuing to battle over so-called ?reform?? legislation.
We need a patent office that spurs innovation, not impedes it.
Here are suggestions for some much-needed improvements:
∑ Improve funding by preventing any diversion of fees.
∑ Adopt more of a market-driven model by changing how fees are assessed.
∑ Improve the USPTO?s technology infrastructure.
∑ Continue evaluating submission guidelines to improve the quality of patent applications.
∑ Set up regional offices so patent examiners can work directly with innovators to improve patent quality.
∑ Lastly, do a better job of attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce. Offer financial incentives for government service.
We are confident that the Senate Judiciary Committee will confirm Mr. Kappos. But we?d also like to hear that the committee ? and Congress ? is committed to fixing the office to help preserve the innovation that has defined our economic progress for more than two centuries.
Hank Nothhaft, President and CEO, Tessera
San Jose, CA